Ohio Voters Back Majority Of School-Spending Proposals

The 56 percent approval rate was higher than is typical for
education-spending votes in Ohio. School districts there have won
slightly fewer than half their ballot requests for tax levies, bond
issues, and other spending since 1983.

Voters in Cincinnati passed their third school-tax levy in five
months. The tax, which will generate $46 million annually for the
city's public schools, won by 72 percent, a record for the
district.

Money for Remediation

Nearly $21.5 million in state funding was made available to Indiana
school districts this year for remediation, but many districts were
slow to claim the money.

All of the state's 293 districts were eligible for the funds to
create or maintain remedial programs to help bring students up to
statewide academic standards. To apply, each school was required to
draft a plan for a remedial program and match the state funding.

The state education department last month began making payments,
totaling $6.7 million, to the 161 districts that met the informal
January deadline. Of the remaining 132 districts, all but two have
since applied for the rest of the funds.

Districts may have been slow to apply because of weather-related
school closings and because the money became available after budgets
had been approved, making it difficult for schools to match state
funds, said Doug Hasler, a consultant for the education department.

Fewer Dropouts

The number of Massachusetts high school students who dropped out of
school edged downward last year, as the state dropout rate dipped to
3.6 percent.

In the 1994-95 school year, 8,396 students dropped out of the
state's public high schools, a report released last month by the state
education department shows. That number is down from 8,512 from the
year before, which represented 3.7 percent, the department
reported.

Eleventh graders had the highest dropout rate last year, at 4.5
percent. Only 3.1 percent of 9th and 12th graders left school, compared
with 3.7 percent for 10th graders.

Vol. 15, Issue 28

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